Denis Shapovalov has been back and forth between racquets for a while. And in Washington D.C., we have seen Shapovalov testing a new racquet.

Early in the year, we saw Shapovalov testing a new racquet. He then switched to the new Ezone 98, which also Naomi Osaka switched to from her trusted Ezone Ai 98. You can read my Yonex Ezone 98 2022 review here. After the Ezone 98, he tried the new VCORE 95 2021 (click here for my review) for a part of the grass-court season, but he didn’t have any good results. Back to the drawing board.

The pic is taken by @danilopizzorno on Instagram.

Shapovalov testing a new racquet

Now he is trying a blacked-out racquet, which means he is not settled. This is not a great sign for Shapo fans because getting used to a new racquet takes time. But it can also boost him if he finds a frame to settle on.

It’s difficult to see or know what pro stock racquet Shapovalov is testing, if I would throw in a wild guess, I’d say it is the new VCORE 98 that will be released next year. But that is just a hunch. I have zero information to support this claim. My reasoning goes like this:

The Ezone 98 was too powerful for Shapo, while the VCORE 95 didn’t quite give him enough forgiveness (I assume). Maybe the VCORE 98 could be a nice middle ground? Judging from the pics it looks like a more modern and powerful beam design than the VCORE Pro 97 (click for my review) as used by Frances Tiafoe or Hubert Hurkacz.

It will be interesting to follow Shapo’s experiments, results, and which frame he settles on. If you have any information about which racquet or racquets he is testing, please contact us here or via Instagram.

Have you seen any other pros testing new racquets ahead of the U.S. Open? Let me know in the comments.